long since upon a site forming part of the farm on which Benjamin West, the painter, was born, a few miles west of Philadelphia. The resignation takes effect forthwith, and leaves the college for the present under charge of Prof. Magill.

A LIVERPOOL journal avers that some of the graduates of Oxford and Cambridge, with all their knowledge of Latin and Greek, have never sufficiently mastered the mysteries of the English tongue to spell words of two or three syllables correctly. Can such things be?

A CORRESPONDENT of the Springfield Republican writes: "I was in Concord not long ago. It was Sunday, and I naturally found myself occupying a seat in a Congregational Church in the afternoon. The pastor was absent, and a venerable Boston clergyman was in the desk. He read from the Bible, and just as the audience expected him to lead their devotion, lo! he sat down, and a quartette choir arose behind him. The organist ricochetted through a series of notes, and the choir opened their mouths and sung to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home," a poor parody of no literary merit, and almost of blasphemous sentiments, "Prayer, sweet, sweet prayer, be it ever so feeble there's nothing like prayer!" and so on, ad nauseam. Think of eight or ten verses of such a parody sung in a religious service on Sunday! This over the venerable clergyman arose and said "Let us pray." Bah!"

"OLD SONGS AND NEW."-This is the title of a book lately published by Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. The authoress is Mrs. Margaret Junkin Preston, a daughter of the late President George Junkin of Lafayette. An enchange speaking of the book, says: "A considerable number of the poems are on subjects taken from Hebrew story, some few are from the Greek, and nearly all are pervaded with a deep religious feeling. In the Hebrew melodies she shows, as we might expect in a daughter of Dr. Junkin, a better acquaintance with Bible lore than most poets who attempt such subjects. She has evidently been a diligent student of our own earlier literature, particularly of Milton, whose scholarly diction comes cropping out here and there in such phrases as "the Sovran Empiry of men."

* *

WALTER BROWN, the celebrated oarsman, died at the residence of his mother, in Newburg, N. Y., March 3d. His disease was contracted during the destruction of his boat house at Boston, in February.

PROF. JOHN BASCOM, of Williams College, has completed a new work entitled "Science, Philosophy and Religion," including

a course of lectures before the Lowell Institute, of Boston, which will soon be published by Putnam & Sons, uniform with his "Psychology."

WE have received complimentary programmes and invitations to the annual contest between the "Philo and Union," and "Franklin and Washington" Literary Societies of Washington and Jef ferson College. The programme presents a succession of declamations, essays, orations and debates upon subjects which we think would be dry were it not for the constant interest kept up by emulation and contest.

James McCarroll is down for an oration, also John M. Birch for an essay, and J. T. Noble for a declamation. These gentlemen, during a temporary suspension of recitations at Cannonsburg, joined classes at Lafayette. The first joining '71, the two latter 72. The gentlemen represent both Societies in the contest. So we do not know how it will be taken if we wish them indiscriminate success; nevertheless, gentlemen, we hope you may do honor to yourselves and to your respective societies.

THE Y. M. C. A. of Bethlehem, has a library of 1650 volumes.

CHAS. M. WETHERILL, Professor of Chemistry in Lehigh University, Bethlehem, was found dead in a chair in his library, on Sunday morning the 5th inst., about 103 o'clock. The cause of his death was heart disease. He had been called to the University from the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and was a very popular professor.

HORACE HOWES, of San Francisco, has deeded in trust nearly $2,000,000 worth of real estate in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, for the foundation of Mount Eagle University, Cal.

THOMAS H. BURROWS, President of the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, died Feb. 25th, aged 67. He was formerly State Supt. of Common Schools and editor of the School Journal.

A MRS. KIRKPATRICK, of New Brunswick, N. J., died lately and left a bequest to Rutgers College of $40,000; to Princeton she left $28,000.

MISS FRANCIS E. WILLARD, of Evanstone, Ill., a writer of some celebrity, has been appointed President of the Evanstone College for Ladies.

Gov. CHAMBERLAIN has declined an offer of the Presidency of the Maine State Agricultural College, and is said to have under

consideration a proposition to take charge of a literary institution at the West, for a salary of $5,000.

"Of all the shams which this or any other college supports, that of demanding of candidates for admission certificates of a "good moral character," is the most useless and absurd. In any case it must fail to accomplish the desired object, as the greatest knave that walks can generally obtain a "character," and in some instances it is positively pernicious. As a measure for backing up the discipline of the preparatory schools, which for the most part very arbitrary, it is still less excusable."-Yale Courant, Feb. 22.

is